Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imprint apparatus and a method of manufacturing an article.
Description of the Related Art
An imprint technique is a technique capable of transferring a nanoscale micropattern, and has received attention as one of nanolithography techniques for mass-producing semiconductor devices and magnetic storage media. An imprint apparatus using the imprint technique supplies an imprint material onto a substrate based on a map (also called an imprint recipe or drop recipe) indicating the supply positions of the imprint material on the substrate. The imprint apparatus then cures the imprint material in a state in which a pattern-formed mold is in contact with the imprint material supplied onto the substrate, and separates the mold from the cured imprint material, thereby forming a pattern on the substrate.
The imprint apparatus is required to reduce a defect (an unfilling defect, an abnormality of the residual layer thickness (RLT), or the like) of the pattern formed on the substrate. Although the imprint material is supplied onto the substrate from a supply unit such as a dispenser provided in the imprint apparatus, a discharge outlet for discharging the imprint material may clog. If no imprint material is discharged from a specific discharge outlet, part of the imprint material to be supplied onto the substrate lacks, and a defect of the pattern may occur at that position.
To solve this problem, Japanese Patent No. 5337776 proposes a technique of supplying droplets of an imprint material so that an intersecting angle defined by a main scanning direction in an inkjet method when discharging droplets of the imprint material and the line direction of the pattern of a mold falls within a range of 30° to 90°.
In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 5337776, however, the influence of a discharge outlet which cannot discharge the imprint material is reduced but the reduction of a defect in a pattern formed on a substrate is insufficient.